1. Field of the Invention
This invention is in the field of liposuction surgery, a plastic cosmetic procedure in which fat cells are removed permanently from the body.
2. Background Information
Conventional liposuction, which features suction as the only active modality for removing unwanted fat cells, is a procedure fraught with complications, including excessive postoperative pain and the potential for major hemorrhagic complications. Several deaths have been reported because of the crudity of conventional liposuction. The mechanism in conventional liposuction is that suction tears the fat cells from their attachments. Unfortunately, suction also tears nerves and blood vessels.
Early attempts to use the laser as the operational modality for liposuction surgery met with failure, as the laser was too powerful an energy source. Heat from the laser, which was applied directly to the fat, would, in fact, melt and liquify fatty tissues, but, at the same time, this strong energy source would also damage nerves and blood vessels. In other words, the laser as employed for liposuction in the late 1980s had, in essence, a quite similar complication rate to that of conventional suction-only liposuction. Laser liposuction fell into disfavor and was abandoned as a failure.
An advance in the use of lasers for medical procedures occurred during experimentation with "laser phacolysis", a method for removing cataracts through a very small incision. It was noted that, although heat was produced by the laser, the tip of the phacolysis cataract instrument remained essentially cool. The proposed mechanism of action of the laser used there was that the laser light was focused on a metal target inside the tip. Optical breakdown occurs, leading to a shock wave. It is this shockwave which causes disruption of the cataract. In other words, the laser works indirectly as a facilitator, allowing the shockwave resulting from optical breakdown to do the actual work of breaking the quite-hard cataract into small pieces, which can then be aspirated.